22 I)KF.\KIM1£NI OF AGRICULTURE 



* 



such nectar can be had from them. Planting for honey alone 

 has not proven profitable. Since it is claimed that bees do not 

 profitably go more than 2 miles for nectar, the apiary should be 

 located so that abundant forage is within this distance. 



The location of the apiary in relation to its exposure to pre- 

 vailing cold winds is a matter which will make for or against 

 success. The ideal situation is on a gently sloping hillside, 

 protected by trees from the prevailing cold winds, and with a 

 southern exposure. 



Bees should not be located where they may prove trouble- 

 some to persons or animals passing. 



The Bees 



Variation in the productivity .of honey bees is as great as in 

 any other form of live stock. Several races of bees have been 

 tried, but none as yet have proven as profitable as the Italians. 

 There are a number of strains of these. 



The apiarist should secure queens from a number of breeders 

 with the best reputations, and from these select for propagating 

 those which prove the most satisfactory. The honey producer 

 has a better opportunity than the queen rearer to discover the 

 good traits of his colonies. 



The Apparatus 



New and complicated apparatus is constantly being offered to 

 the beekeeping public, much of which is of little or no use to 

 the practical honey producer. The simplest apparatus will be 

 found the most satisfactory. 



The majority of successful honey producers are using a dove- 

 tailed hive with Hoffman frames and telescoping cover. For 

 comb-honey production the tendency in New Jersey is to use a 

 tall section measuring 4x5x1^ inches. The 4^ x 454 x i^-inch 

 plain section also is used somewhat. There is not enough dif- 

 ference in these styles of sections either as rgards the behavior 

 of the bees toward them or their appeal to the honey purchasr, 

 to decide which is better. It has been contended that the tall 

 section is more attractive to the prospective customer because it 

 presents a large comb surface to the eye, but this has not been 



